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Image Credit - Times Of India[/caption]As the fans will take a cursory glance ten years down the line at the scoresheet of the test matches in India post-Covid revival, this test match will be probably termed as the Joe Root test.
This is very much true after what has been done by the English captain. But keeping aside the cold numbers, a spell of magic has been cast by the Englishman who is 38 years old. His performance will be etched in the memories of those who can squeeze in time as they were in their WFH schedules as they catch up on the cricket on a very busy Tuesday afternoon.
After a target of 420 was set by the England team, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were very much on their way and had settled in very well after they lost the prized scalp of Cheteshwar Pujara very early as Joe Root threw the ball to James Anderson. The ball has already started getting very old and there have been discussions on whether it is a bit too late to give the veteran a chance to bowl his first spell. James Anderson did not take more than a couple of balls to prove all the doubts wrong.
Going by records of the most wickets taken by a pacer on the fourth innings of a test match, James Anderson is only behind Glenn McGrath taking 81 wickets in 57 test innings. However, Australian pace spearhead Glenn McGrath heads the list with 103scalps in 53 test innings. The elite list also included great bowlers like Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Broad, and Courtney Walsh.
Anderson used the reverse swing brilliantly after he pitched the ball back of the length as Gill’s off-stump was sent cart-wheeling by him. After a couple of balls, the very reliable Rahane was caught right in plumb in front with the same kind of delivery. But the umpire has turned down the appeal for reasons known to him only as the technical nitty-gritty came into play because of the umpire’s call and DRS.
The same kind of delivery was again bowled by Anderson that looked to shape away and came cutting back after it had pitched and gate-crashed the defense of Rahane for the third time by disturbing the stumps. This is more like an insult to Rahane as he got dismissed twice in a couple of balls as India was left in tatters.
But the spunk of Pant was still in play but the swing of Anderson toyed with him for the next two overs and later an edge has induced that went into the safe hands of short mid-off. The game was almost over as the spell by Anderson read 7-4-8-3 and he is one of the finest overseas bowlers in India after the era of Wasim Akram and India could not manage the draw with such great bowling and lost the test match.
